North America

The plastic fiver has become a familiar sight in the UK since it was issued last September and this summer the tenner version will follow. It seems unlikely that glass coins will also appear – but that was not the case in the US in 1942.

Phillips has made two new hires in the Americas from rival Christie’s as it continues to expand in the region.

The hive of art world activity in the Big Apple in January kicks off with the New York International Numismatic Convention, or NYINC, which takes place at the Waldorf Astoria.

The market for Lucie Rie ceramics continues to thrive. A new auction high for the doyenne of the British studio pottery movement was posted by Phillips in New York this month– the fourth occasion a record has been set in just two years.

An Enigma cipher machine made a world-record price last week when it was hammered down for $380,000 (£301,379).

Dallas based Heritage Auctions is suing a Christie’s-owned firm in the US over alleged data theft.

Plastic money has been a bone of contention recently thanks to the strange revelation that the new UK £5 notes include animal fat. But one day the polymer notes will surely be as normal and accepted as the existing paper examples, assuming physical money has not all but disappeared anyway by then.

Christie’s contemporary art chief Brett Gorvy is leaving the firm to become an art advisor.

The Los Angeles Superior Court has upheld California’s uncompromising ban on the sale of most ivory objects.

London’s Mayor Gallery has filed a complaint in New York state court claiming the Agnes Martin foundation acted wrongly when rejecting works submitted for authentication.

Sotheby’s has bought scientific research specialist Orion Analytical to "help to make the art market a safer place".

A Superior Court judge in Los Angeles has heard the legal arguments that challenge California’s uncompromising ban on the sale of practically all ivory objects.

A button reading ‘Equality’ and commemorating Booker T Washington’s dinner with President Theodore Roosevelt in the White House is included in Heritage Auction’s upcoming Americana sale.

The flagship Modern and Contemporary art sales in New York in November are an important bellwether of the global art market. This year a total of $1.29bn (£1.03bn) changed hands, including the auctioneers’ premium. Here ATG picks 10 individual highlights from around the salerooms.

New York auctioneers Doyle has announced that it is opening a Russian works of art department. It is run by Russian specialist Mark Moehrke, who has been appointed as the department’s vice president and director.

An auction record for British artist David Hockney was one of the highlights at a robust Contemporary art sale at Sotheby’s New York last night.

A stone tablet, inscribed with the Ten Commandments and thought to be the earliest-known complete example, has been sold at auction in Beverly Hills for $850,000 (£683,000).

A ‘Grainstack’ painting by Claude Monet set a major auction record for the artist at Christie’s in New York last night.

A large abstract painting by Gerhard Richter consigned by musician Eric Clapton was among the highlights of last night’s auction at Christie’s New York.

Edvard Munch’s ‘Girls on the Bridge’ was knocked down at $50m (£40m) and led Sotheby’s evening sale of Impressionist & Modern in New York last night.